


you better run, run, run

by cottonmatcha



Series: Collection of Soulmate AU for Tobio [2]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Canon Compliant, Fluff, M/M, Romantic Comedy, attempt of humor, no beta we die like men, oikage being idiots, oikage soulmate au where it isnt angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-22
Updated: 2021-01-24
Packaged: 2021-03-14 05:28:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,377
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28915377
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cottonmatcha/pseuds/cottonmatcha
Summary: Are you looking for Oikage soulmate AU where Tobio isn't suffering and being rejected? Then this is for you.Oikawa is obsessed with the concept of soulmate that he really doesn't mind when he finds out that Tobio-chan is his soulmate.
Relationships: Kageyama Tobio/Oikawa Tooru
Series: Collection of Soulmate AU for Tobio [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2120733
Comments: 24
Kudos: 274





	1. The beginning

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, this is just my wordvomit after I complained on twitter. I love angsty oikage soulmate au but I think we need variation where tobio is desired. its actually finished but I feel like its very long to be one chapter so it will have two chapter. will update again this weekend! so no, you dont have to wait too long to get the update!

Oikawa was a romanticist. Ever since he was a kid, he enjoyed reading books about one true love, you know stuff like happily ever after where the pairing got their happy endings. As he grew up, he learned that each person was destined to meet their soulmate. Oikawa who was a sucker for romantic stories, was beyond thrilled to meet his true love, to know that he would have someone who he could spend the rest of his life with.

The concept of soulmate was already drilled into Oikawa’s head and when he turned sixteen, he was really excited that he nearly puked on his bed. The clock struck to twelve and he immediately checked on his wrist, expecting to see a name on his skin but to his disappointment, nothing appeared. That was when he realized that his destined one was might be younger than him. The name would only appear when both him and his soulmate turned sixteen and Oikawa just wished that his soulmate wasn’t _too_ young. He was already impatient and he couldn’t imagine if he had to wait for couple of years.

Iwaizumi joked that maybe his soulmate was just born, which was a rare case but not impossible. He passed that as mean joke at first but as he celebrated his eighteenth birthday, Oikawa’s wrist was still as blank as when he turned sixteen. The idea of him being middle-aged man with a teenager soulmate was scaring him to the bone that he got nightmares.

“You can be a sugar daddy for your soulmate.” Matsukawa grinned in amusement, watching Oikawa slumped over the table.

“Yeah, if he became rich man, if he wasn’t?” Hanamaki added before he laughed heartily.

Teasing Oikawa was just a normal thing to do when the Seijoh’s third years gathered at Iwaizumi’s house. They knew that the brown-haired boy was obsessed with soulmate concept and they also knew that he had been waiting to meet his destined one. That didn’t stop them to make fun of him.

“You guys are gross.” Oikawa frowned in disgust. “Is it fun making of me? The soulmate-less one?”

Unlike Oikawa, the others already met their soulmates. Even some first years who recently turned sixteen already found their soulmates as well, which was a big blow to Oikawa. Why did it take so long for him?

“Yes.” Hanamaki and Matsukawa said unison.

Oikawa dropped his head on the table, whining loudly at how mean his friends were. Iwaizumi took a pity on him and changed the topic.

“So, I heard Kageyama is invited to youth camp. That one where Ushijima went last year.”

“Looking at his crazy skill, I am not surprised.” Hanamaki hummed. “Wait, how did you know?”

“What kind of question is that, Makki?! Karasuno’s captain is literally his soulmate. And I don’t understand why we have to talk about Tobio-chan? So what if he got invited? Hmph.”

Iwaizumi rolled his eyes at Oikawa’s dramatic answer. “Don’t you always want to know about what he is doing? Don’t pretend that I didn’t catch you watching Karasuno vs Shiratorizawa match in stupid disguise.”

“Yeah, I am tired of hearing you whine about _Tobio-chan_ _this, Tobio-chan_ _that_.” Matsukawa imitated Oikawa’s voice to make a point.

“I am not!” Oikawa’s face went red, feeling annoyed and embarrassed at the same time for getting exposed. “I just want to see Ushiwaka or Tobio-chan got crushed, since unfortunately I _couldn’t_ do it.”

“It will be funny if _Tobio-chan_ is your soulmate.”

“Mattsun, don’t jinx it!”

“I mean you’ve been talking about soulmate and Tobio-chan a LOT. Isn’t that best of both worlds?”

When Oikawa went home that night from Iwaizumi’s house, he thought about what Matsukawa said and prayed that it was just a sick joke. Universe wouldn’t mess around with him, right?

**

December 22th was supposed to be another normal day for Oikawa. The winter break had started and he thought about watching movies all day long and probably practicing some serves at nearby gym later, depending on the weather. It was snowing but not heavy enough to cover the road. He rolled on his bed, feeling lazy to do anything.

**6AM**

Oikawa sighed when he checked on the clock on the night stand. It was too early for him to wake up during holiday. He run his hand through his hair when the corner of his eyes caught something. Jolted up to sit on the bed properly, he slowly took a look at his wrist. His heart was beating so fast and it made his hand shook badly. There was a name on his wrist, the kanjis with black ink. Blinking his eyes several times to read it properly, he almost passed out when he recognized the name.

Kageyama Tobio was written neatly on his wrist.

 _ **Kageyama Tobio**_. Tobio-chan was the one he had been waiting for, the one who would spend the rest of his life with, his true love, his _soulmate_.

It took Oikawa a full minute to process everything and he started freaking out. He looked around in panic, trying to locate his phone and grabbing it as fast as possible. With shaky hands, he pressed the call button. His heart was thumping really loud that he didn’t hear when Iwaizumi picked his call.

“Hello?” Oikawa couldn’t say anything at first. He didn’t know where to start. “Shittykawa? Isn’t this too early to bother me?”

When Iwaizumi didn’t get a reply, he groaned over the phone. “Oi, what’s going on? If this is stupid prank-“

“Iwa-chan” Oikawa said calmly which alerted Iwaizumi that something happened since he immediately stopped talking. “Tobio-chan is my soulmate.”

Silence.

“Oh, uh. Congrats? Or do you want me to say sorry?”

“Tobio-chan is my soulmate.” Oikawa repeated slowly. And as if the reality just set in, he started to shout. “Oh my god, Tobio-chan is my soulmate! Iwa-chan! What-I? What????!”

“Oi, oi! Calm down Shittykawa. I am coming over after lunch.” Iwaizumi tried to comfort his friend.

“Okay.”

The phone call ended and Oikawa looked as his phone like it wasn’t real. Like what just happened wasn’t real. That Kageyama Tobio wasn’t his soulmate.

Few hours later, Iwaizumi was in Oikawa’s room, watching the owner staring at the ceiling. He glanced at the name on Oikawa’s wrist. Not knowing how to deal with this absurd situation, he could only sigh.

“Are you going to talk about it or play statue for a whole time?”

Oikawa sat up abruptly, scaring the shit out of Iwaizumi that he nearly fell off the chair. He stared at his own wrist and the name was still there, _Kageyama Tobio_. Maybe the name would change or disappear if he stared long enough.

“I can’t believe that Mattsun jinxed it for real. Tobio-chan is my soulmate.”

“Don’t say that.” Iwaizumi frowned in disapproval. “Kageyama is a nice kid.”

“You say that because he’s only nice to you!”

“He’s nice to you as well. It’s you who are being mean to him.”

As much as he hated to admit, Oikawa knew that Iwaizumi was right. Kageyama in general was polite. He was just awkward and bad at socializing; his resting bitch face was also not helping him. Sure, the kid had his tyrant days during last year of middle school and got the harsh punishment from his teammates but when he saw him in Karasuno, he was aware that the middle school Kageyama had changed for the better. The black-haired boy had learned to trust his teammates and make friends. It stung a little to know that Kageyama turned into better individual when he wasn’t his junior anymore, but he realized that he wasn’t a good senior to him. Not that Oikawa wanted to tell anyone, but he kind of missed little Kageyama, big blue eyes with small blush on his cheeks, following him around to ask about his serve.

Anyway, Kageyama was his soulmate. Was it a good thing? Or bad? He didn’t know actually. He had been thinking about meeting his true love since he was a kid and to know that his destined one was Kageyama, his uselessly adorable junior who had permanent scowl and pout on his face…

“Can you talk or something?” Iwaizumi groaned, feeling tired with the silence. Usually, he would be annoyed when Oikawa talked too much but, he needed his friend to talk about this whole situation because it was _his_ problem.

“I don’t know what to do! Having Tobio-chan as my soulmate, _that_ never crossed my mind, not even once!”

Iwaizumi closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. “So, are you going to reject the bond?”

The scandalous gasp that escaped Oikawa’s mouth made Iwaizumi raised his eyebrow in question.

“Iwa-chan! How you-“ Oikawa said in harsh whisper, like Iwaizumi just accused him as murderer. “How can you think of me, someone who waited for years to meet my soulmate, to reject the bond? Besides, to reject soulmate bond, you have to feel a pure hate your destined one.”

“Well, don’t you hate Kageyama? Isn’t that easy to do for you?”

The gasp that escaped Oikawa was much dramatic and louder for the second time that Iwaizumi thought his friend was just aiming for Oscar.

“I never hate Tobio-chan.” The brown-haired man paused when Iwaizumi narrowed his eyes in judgement. “I mean, yes I appear to hate him but I just- just don’t like him as volleyball player. His skill is what terrifies me and push me to be mean to him. I know this is not an excuse but hate is a strong word for what I feel for him.”

“So, you want to accept him as soulmate?”

“Maybe?”

“Listen, Trashykawa.” Iwaizumi raised his finger when Oikawa was about to complain over the nickname, shutting him up instantly. “I can’t decide for you since it’s your life. You should be the one who decide it whether you want to accept Kageyama as your soulmate or not. You don’t hate him and that’s a good start. Like what you said earlier, you don’t like him as volleyball player. His skill aside, my advice is you need to see him as person and not as your rival or opponent in court. You need to see him as your soulmate, someone who you will spend your life with. It’s not always about volleyball.”

Volleyball was a huge part of Oikawa’s life but like Iwaizumi said, it wasn’t always about volleyball. Oikawa wanted to have someone he could love, someone who loved him back, he always wanted that ever since he was kid, reading about those fairy tale books and watching the cheesy movies about love. He thought about waking up in the morning and seeing a mop of black hair next to him, he thought about blue eyes who would look at him with tenderness, he could imagine that with Kageyama. He didn’t mind about it; he could push aside his stupid rivalry with Kageyama and learn to love him as his soulmate.

“Okay.” Oikawa nodded, missing the surprise look from Iwaizumi. “How-how do uhm.. how do I do that? Like you know, to Kageyama?”

All of sudden, Oikawa didn’t know how to deal with this soulmate thing. His flirting experiences with women felt useless because he knew better that Kageyama was different and it would be hard to just talk with him without starting an argument.

“Did you contact Kageyama already?”

“Uh, I don’t have his number.”

Iwaizumi hummed and pulled out his phone. He was typing something and then shifted his attention back to Oikawa who looked at him curiously. “I asked Daichi for Kageyama’s number earlier. I will give it to you in one condition. Don’t be a dickhead. Knowing you, you will probably end up by taunting him like elementary kid who bullying their crush. So, No. It won’t work. Just be nice or Daichi will kill me if you make one of his kids upset.”

Oikawa wanted to deny that but closed his mouth in defeat. Iwaizumi knew him too well that it probably would happen. Taunting Kageyama was his favorite thing to do because it was fun to see his reaction. And if he wanted this work, he should be nicer to him. In his head it was easy but he still didn’t know when he put it into action.

“Thanks Iwa-chan. You’re the best.”

**

It was already new year and Oikawa was still not able to contact Kageyama. He tried with message at first, even adding extra kaomoji to make it cuter and friendlier but no reply. He tried to call and it went straight to mailbox. It was really frustrating and he was wondering if Kageyama knew it was him, Oikawa Tooru. The thought of Kageyama avoiding him purposely somehow irked him, but he gave his stupidly adorable junior a benefit of doubt. After all, Kageyama wasn’t the type who was on his phone often. He told himself that there was no way Kageyama had been ignoring him for almost two weeks. The kid wouldn’t dare, would he?

Feeling hopeless, he decided to visit a shrine since it was the first day of new year. He wanted to start his year with positivity and he would make sure to pray for many things. His volleyball career, health, his final exam and the most important was his love life. Now that he already who his soulmate was, he didn’t want to waste his time anymore. After the talk with Iwaizumi, Oikawa thought about the benefit of having Kageyama as soulmate. They both loved volleyball and shared the same passion for the sport, that was a plus even though their rivalry could be a minus too. But as he knew, it wasn’t all about volleyball. They probably could talk about over things; he didn’t know what but he wanted to know. He wanted to have his happily ever after and not even his insecurity over Kageyama’s skill would stop that. Maybe he could work on that later, _they_ would work on that later.

“Mom, I am going out!” Oikawa closed the door, inhaling the fresh morning air before exhaling it gently.

Too bad that Iwaizumi had his grandparents visited him and he couldn’t join Oikawa. After sulking for half an hour, Oikawa chose to go alone because the longer he stayed in his room, the more he would think about Kageyama who didn’t reply his message nor his call.

As expected, Miyagi shrine was crowded with people from all ages. Oikawa wasn’t surprised and already prepared to walk through the crowd. He just wanted to pray and probably checked on some snacks before going home. This would be a quick visit. Or that was supposed to be the original plan when he spotted a familiar black hair with weird haircut. Walking closer, he realized that it was indeed someone he had been searching for. With above average height, Kageyama was easy to spot. The black-haired boy was standing in front of dango booth, counting his coins on his palm before glancing at the menu.

It was supposed to be a normal sight but Oikawa thought it was endearing at how Kageyama scowled when he realized he didn’t have enough coins and turned around with a visible pout. That was when their eyes met. Blue eyes widened in shock and Oikawa waved, announcing his presence to him.

“Yohoo! Tobio-chan!”

Kageyama glanced around, looked back at Oikawa who was approaching him and before he could reach him, he stepped back and broke into run. Oikawa watched many romantic cheesy movies where the protagonist had to chase his lover, whether it was because of argument or simply being playful. Never thought that he would be doing this right now as the instinct kicked in and he ran after Kageyama. Unfortunately, this wasn’t a romantic movie where the protagonist easily caught his lover because what the hell, Kageyama was so fast and the crowded area didn’t help either. Oikawa wasn’t prepared to run and he was almost out of breath when the god decided to pity him because Kageyama tripped and fell to the ground unglamorously.

“Tob-Tobio-chan, stop.” Oikawa finally caught him, offering his hand to help Kageyama.

“Y-yeah. Thanks.” Kageyama took the hand and got up, standing awkwardly as he dusted off his pants. He was red in the face, not sure because all the running or embarrassment.

“Why are you so fast” Oikawa grumbled, trying to catch his breath.

“Uh, I just drink milk every day.”

“Don’t answer that.”

Oikawa had been wanting to talk to Kageyama and he tried to be civil for their future relationship sake but Kageyama’s annoyingly innocent answer made him question his decision. This would be a hard and long journey. He pulled the younger to the side, away from the crowded area.

“So, how are you Tobio-chan?”

“Uh, good?”

“Well, glad to know that. And I hope you’re not purposely ignoring the messages and calls from me, right?”

Kageyama got flustered at the accusation but he averted his gaze when Oikawa narrowed his eyes. One thing that Oikawa noticed was that Kageyama wouldn’t look you in the eyes when he was guilty of something. He learned it in middle school when the other forgot to lock the gym when Oikawa had reminded him several times.

“Uh..oh, that number was you…” Kageyama mumbled. “I didn’t know.”

“I literally put my name under the message, Tobio-chan.”

Honestly, Oikawa would drop the mad act but he enjoyed how Kageyama fidgeted, looking like a kid who caught red-handed breaking his mother’s vase. He sighed in defeat when he realized he couldn’t do it any longer.

“It’s okay Tobio-chan.” Oikawa said softly, Kageyama looked up with a surprised look. “You know what I want to talk about, right?”

“Is it soulmate?”

Oikawa felt his wrist tingling in pleasant way, a reminder that he finally met his soulmate and that thought alone almost made him giggle in happiness. He cleared his throat, collecting himself to appear cool.

“Yeah.” He raised up his wrist, showing the kanji of Kageyama’s name.

“Uhm, what do you want to do with it?”

Out of all reactions, he didn’t expect Kageyama to sound annoyed. Like okay, Oikawa admitted when he knew Kageyama would be his soulmate, his reaction wasn’t positive at first but he had been spending two weeks to accept that yes, he didn’t mind to have _his_ _Tobio-chan_ as his soulmate.

“Don’t you feel happy that you finally met your soulmate? I mean you’re obsessed with me for years and you will have me for the rest of your life. Isn't that a good deal?”

The troubled look on Kageyama’s face made Oikawa drop his confident smile.

“Oikawa-san, you hate me.”

“Tobio-chan!” Oikawa raised his eyebrows in shock. “I never hate you. What I hate, okay wait- hate is a very strong word. I am just _annoyed_ that you will surpass me as setter in terms of skill one day. And since that one day is still very far away, we can figure it out later, okay? Can we just start the soulmate stuff?”

The silent from Kageyama was making Oikawa nervous and he rethought about the words he said to the younger, wanting to kick himself in the head when he noticed how self-centered he was. Iwaizumi would totally kill him, before he himself got killed by Sawamura.

“Oikawa-san.” Kageyama glanced up to meet his eyes and immediately looked down. “Uh, I think we can’t be soulmate.”

Since Oikawa was a kid, he was popular among his peers. He was a typical flower boy who could attract the people around him. A lot of women, even men confessed to him but he rejected them because he only wanted to give his attention and love to his soulmate. True love was a real thing and he wanted to experience that with his soulmate only. So, to hear that his own soulmate said they _couldn’t_ be soulmate was the last thing he wanted to hear.

“What? Don’t you.. I mean you have my name on your wrist, right?”

“Oh, yeah.” He noticed how Kageyama tried to hide his wrist and he could spot the kanji of his name there. “Anyway, we can’t be soulmate! I reject you!”

The way Kageyama said it was like he tried to summon pokemon and Oikawa couldn’t take this shit seriously. As if the situation wasn’t ridiculous enough. One couldn’t simply reject his soulmate unless they had pure hate feelings towards the other.

“Tobio-chan, do you hate me?”

“No? I mean you scare me sometime but I don’t hate you.”

The frustrated groan that Oikawa released made Kageyama step back warily.

“Tobio-chan, you can’t reject your soulmate unless you have strong hate feeling towards them. It wasn’t that simple and easy. That’s not how it works.”

“Okay.” Kageyama nodded confidently before blurted out another nonsense. “Can you reject me? So, I can reject you back.”

For a genius volleyball player, Kageyama was truly an idiot. Oikawa felt like he was in comedy movie where the plot was just a series of absurd situation. This wasn’t what he wanted, he wanted to be in romantic movie NOT comedy.

“Tobio-chan, we are not playing uno when you can pull reverse card. That’s _not_ how soulmate works.”

“Oh, okay.”

They went silent after that.

“So, soulmate?” Oikawa said slowly, like he was speaking to a child.

“No.”

And Kageyama ran _again_ , leaving Oikawa dumbfounded.


	2. The Happy (?) Ending

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so the second part aka the last part, sorry if its late because I have other works to do! I dont re-read this and I believe it has some typos, sorry in advance, hope you still understand and enjoy it:D

Kageyama’s life was revolved around volleyball. Volleyball was fun. Even though he had his ups and downs because of the sport, it was enjoyable, it was comforting for him. Kageyama couldn’t imagine his life without volleyball. He only wanted to think about volleyball, because volleyball was simple and fun. Nothing else mattered.

Until one day, the morning of his birthday when he just turned sixteen, he woke up with tingling sensation on his wrist. Kageyama learned about soulmate in biology class, not that he paid attention but he knew the gist of it. He also knew about the concept vaguely by looking at his friends who met their soulmates already. So, when he saw the kanji of Oikawa Tooru on his wrist, he freaked out.

Like a fool he was, he tried to wash it off with water. It didn’t work as expected. After the futile attempt, he was sitting on his bed, running his fingers gently at the name. The name brought a fascination and horror feelings because he knew his soulmate wasn’t someone who liked his existence. He didn’t know how to deal with that, with Oikawa Tooru but one thing, he knew that he didn’t have time for a soulmate. He only wanted to focus on volleyball since Karasuno was going to national to represent Miyagi.

That was right, he had no time for this. Soulmate, relationship, anything that wasn’t related with volleyball was bothersome. He experienced it first hand when Hinata said they couldn’t practice together because he wanted to go on date with Yachi, his soulmate. Also, that time when Tsukishima was sick and Yamaguchi had to skip the practice to take care of his soulmate. In conclusion, having a soulmate wouldn’t benefit him and having Oikawa as his soulmate would give him a minus benefit since they didn’t have a good relationship. Not to add the rivalry that was happening between them. Kageyama needed to practice more so he could surpass him, he didn’t have time for soulmate.

He managed to ignore Oikawa for a whole two weeks but it didn’t last long as Oikawa managed to catch him. The most surprising part was when the older said he didn’t mind having Kageyama as soulmate.

But he _did._ Soulmate was complicated and Oikawa was also complicated. If you mixed both, Kageyama would go insane. His passive aggressive personality towards Kageyama always made him confused. One day he was being nice to him and the next day he would make fun of him. He didn’t want to be confused. The solution was rejecting the bond.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t that easy, rejecting the bond was complicated as well and Kageyama hated complicated stuff. So, like always he ran away from them, from those complicated stuff, from his problem, from Oikawa.

But he forgot that running away from those things didn’t mean that it would be automatically solved. The universe decided to remind him of that as he saw Oikawa stood in front of Karasuno’s front gate in his Seijoh uniform. Brown eyes locked on him like he was a prey _. His prey._

“Tobio-chan! I swear if you run away again, I will be _so_ mad!” Oikawa yelled, gaining the attention from Karasuno students who looked back and forth between him and the older.

Kageyama halted on his step, weighing the idea of just running or staying. Staying meant he would talk to Oikawa, running meant he wouldn’t have to.

It was obvious choice. _He ran_.

His legs brought him towards the gym like it was an auto pilot, he could hear Oikawa calling his name and the adrenaline kicked in as he fastened his pace. When the gym was already on his sight, he was almost sighed in relief but sadly he wasn’t fast enough as he was suddenly being pulled back and head-locked by Oikawa.

“Tobi-Tobio-chan, Will you stop running when you-you see me?!” Oikawa said as he was catching his breath.

“Good afternoon, Oikawa-san” Kageyama yelped when Oikawa tightened his grip around his neck. Was he going to murder him? “Why-why are you here?”

“I don’t know? Maybe because my soulmate keeps running away after his dumb attempt to reject me?”

Feeling the heat creeping on his cheeks, Kageyama closed his eyes in shame, wanting to forget their encounter few days ago. He admitted that it was a coward action but he had no choice, he wasn’t ready to have serious talk with Oikawa. The Spring Interhigh tournament was getting closer and he didn’t want to think about other things, especially about soulmate.

“Oikawa-san I-“

Before Kageyama could continue what he wanted to say, the gym door opened. They were met with a pair of golden eyes, looking at them with a deep frown.

“Nope. Not today.” Tsukishima immediately closed the door.

“Hey asshole!” Kageyama shouted in annoyance, feeling betrayed that Tsukishima didn’t bother to help him.

“Oh wow, Tobio-chan, who teaches you to say such bad words?” Oikawa said with a disapproving voice.

“Oikawa-san, can you please release me?”

“As long as you aren’t running away anymore.”

“Okay, deal.”

Within a second, Kageyama was released from the strong grip of Oikawa’s arms. He could feel that his neck a bit sore but maybe after few stretches, it would be fine. He had other thing to worry and his sore neck wasn’t the main problem because right now, Oikawa Tooru was staring him down with pursed lips.

“Are we going to talk about soulmate again?”

“Yes. What else?” Oikawa confirmed and his gaze softened when he realized how fidgety Kageyama was. “Care to explain why are you trying to reject the bond?”

The gentle tone that Oikawa used to speak with Kageyama made him less tense. He could feel his body relax a bit. At least he didn’t sound mad. After all, what he wanted to do was to play volleyball. It was good reason to reject the bond, Oikawa would understand, right?

“Because I just want to play volleyball? In fact, I think my soulmate is volleyball.”

He watched as Oikawa closed his eyes, jaws clenched like he was holding his anger and Kageyama was so close to run again.

“That’s _not_ how it works, Tobio-chan. Don’t you learn it in biology class?”

“I don’t know.” Kageyama pouted, not liking that he was being lectured.

“Can we just talk like adults? Without all the nonsense.”

“I just turned sixteen few weeks ago. I am not an adult.”

Oikawa opened his mouth to say something but he closed it afterwards. He just smiled and casually turned around then screamed into the sky, startling Kageyama that he almost bolted out of the spot. But before he could do that, the gym door opened. This time his captain, Sawamura was standing at the door, looking around with concerned expression before his eyes landed on him and Oikawa.

“Kageyama? Oikawa? What’s going on? I heard a scream. Wait, why is Oikawa here?”

When Kageyama saw the door opened wider, he took his chance to dash inside, running for his life when he heard Oikawa shouted. He crashed against a blur of orange who he suspected as Hinata. His butt landed on the ground because of the impact.

“Bakayama! What the hell!”

The unlucky person who crashed against him was indeed Hinata. Kageyama groaned in pain, ready to snap at Hinata but he remembered the reason why he ran. He turned his head to check on the door, expecting the brown-haired boy to pop out with angry glare but to his confusion, the door was closed.

“Oi, Kageyama! Why were you running like that?”

Kageyama looked up to see Hinata was frowning at him. He got up from the ground, ignoring the soreness around his butt. His gaze shifted to the closed door and guessed that Sawamura took care of Oikawa. Ignoring Hinata’s question, he walked towards the door, wanting to check if Oikawa was gone.

He was about to open the door but it was suddenly opened and he let out a scream, thinking that it was Oikawa. The scream startled everyone in the gym, including Sawamura who was at the door and Kageyama realized that it wasn’t Oikawa.

“Sawamura-san.” Kageyama flushed red, his whole face felt really hot. This was so embarrassing.

“Kageyama, you scared me.” Sawamura chuckled in amusement. “Oikawa-san is leaving already.”

“Oh, okay. That’s uhm.. good.”

“And…” Kageyama tilted his head when Sawamura leaned forward to say something. “I think we should have a talk this sunday at Hajime’s house. Don’t worry, Oikawa won’t be there.”

This time, Kageyama wouldn’t be able to run away.

**

If Oikawa was scary then Iwaizumi was intimidating to Kageyama. Iwaizumi wasn’t mean to him, in fact he defended him several times, like that day when Oikawa lost control of his emotion and almost hit Kageyama. Even with that fact, he still felt intimidated by Iwaizumi’s presence.

As if Iwaizumi alone wasn’t intimidating enough, his soulmate just happened to be the captain of his current team, Sawamura Daichi. Both of them got this overwhelming presence and they were people that Kageyama didn’t want to mess around with. That was why he couldn’t stop fidgeting in his seat right now as both Sawamura and Iwaizumi looked at him with calculating gaze.

“So, Kageyama. I guess you know that we are going to talk about you and Shittykawa being soulmate, right?” Iwaizumi started the conversation after a long silence. Sawamura was sitting next to him silently with arms folded.

Kageyama felt like he was having serious talk about his grade with his parents. The heavy atmosphere and the intimidating aura weren’t really good for his sanity. He’d rather have marathon competition with Oikawa. At least he could run.

“Y-yeah. Is there something wrong?”

“Listen, I don’t mean to meddle with your life but I know how persistent Oikawa can be and he’ll follow you anywhere until he gets what he wants. If you don’t mind telling us, what’s the reason for you to reject the bond? Is it because the situation when we were in middle school?”

For him, memories from middle school weren’t that good and Kageyama wouldn’t blame anyone but himself for what happened. Even if Oikawa was being a shitty senior to him, he never took it to heart. Their rivalry was still going on until now and Kageyama secretly enjoyed that. Not that he would tell anyone about it, especially Oikawa.

“Kageyama, you look constipated. Relax, we aren’t scolding you.” Sawamura said with a gentle voice.

“Uh sorry, that’s my default face.”

Iwaizumi and Sawamura laughed at the answer and Kageyama couldn’t help to grin sheepishly. There was a tiny feeling of happiness for making his seniors laugh at his words. He felt more relaxed than before.

“I just think having soulmate is bothersome.”

Sawamura raised an eyebrow in question. “Bothersome?”

“I have been dedicating my life to play volleyball. Thinking about other things like soulmate is bothersome. I have to practice to get better. I don’t have time to think about soulmate.”

There was awkward silence before Iwaizumi leaned back on the chair and broke into laughter. Sawamura looked at his soulmate then to Kageyama in amusement. He could feel him blushing in embarrassment. Was the answer weird? He thought it was good enough.

“Sorry-sorry for laughing. I didn’t expect that answer but again, that’s just very _you_.” Iwaizumi managed to stop his laughter after Sawamura elbowed him. “Also, why do you think you can’t have _both_ soulmate and volleyball at the same time?”

Kageyama frowned, looking to the floor to find a proper answer. He just couldn’t, okay? Having soulmate just sounded tiring, he didn’t want to split his mind to think about anything else. He knew that Yachin and Hinata went on date. Or like Yamaguchi and Tsukishima who watched movie together at each other’s house. Kageyama just wanted to play volleyball.

“I don’t have time for that. We’re going to national.”

“But I am also going to national in case you forget, Kageyama. And here, I have soulmate next to me. I have time for him.” Sawamura looked at him with questioning eyes. “So?”

“Then can you add Oikawa as your soulmate as well? I mean Iwaizumi-san knows him for so long and you can get to know-“

“That’s _not_ how it works, Kageyama.”

“But soulmate is bothersome! Oikawa-san is bothersome too!” Kageyama whined, already feeling tired with the conversation. Why couldn’t anything work in his favor?

“Well, that I agree with you. Even if he isn’t my soulmate, he is bothersome.”

Iwaizumi started laughing again at his own words and Sawamura elbowed him for the second time, telling him to get serious. The spiky-haired boy cleared his throat, looking apologetic for laughing.

“Anyway, what I want to say. Maybe you should talk to him, like proper talk. I heard that you keep running from him and that’s not how you deal with it, Kageyama. You can’t avoid him forever, not when both of you are soulmate. I admit Oikawa isn’t the best choice considering your uh-situation with him but hey, give him a chance?”

“Talk to him, Kageyama. It’s not good to run from your problem. The universe decided to pair you with your soulmate for a reason. Give it a chance?”

“Okay.”

Kageyama sighed in defeat. It was true that he couldn’t keep running away from his problem, from Oikawa.

“Oh, and if he causes any trouble and make you upset, please tell me. I will give him a piece of my mind, or my fist.” Iwaizumi grinned wickedly, casually crackling his knuckles.

“Don’t worry, I’ll make sure he doesn’t bother Kageyama too much.” Sawamura smiled widely but the glint in his eyes promised of torture and pain.

Remind Kageyama again to not mess around with this couple.

**

Spring Interhigh tournament was getting closer and Karasuno had to double their practice to get ready for upcoming match. After all this was one chance match where they would go back to Miyagi if they lost. Next week, the team would head to Tokyo and Kageyama was busying himself to perfect his toss.

Even though he was busy with all volleyball stuff, he still couldn’t brush off his conversation with Iwaizumi and Sawamura before. He ended up thinking about soulmate and even searched more info about it. Like he said, it was bothersome. He could have spent his time practicing his toss but instead he was browsing on internet about what soulmate did.

**_Soulmates are bound to have romantic relationship._ **

**_You can express your love with words_ **

**_but it’s recommended to give your soulmate a hug or a kiss._ **

“K-k-kiss?” Kageyama thought about kissing Oikawa and instead of a gross imagination, it was just… okay? Like he didn’t mind looking at Oikawa so kissing him probably wasn’t that bad either. Oikawa was handsome, everyone knew. But what made Kageyama admire him was his skill as setter, it was what attracted him. But again, face value, Oikawa was attractive. His personality sucked though.

“Who do you want to kiss? The grand king?”

Kageyama got startled and almost dropped his phone but he managed to catch it on time before it hit the floor. He turned around and saw Hinata was standing with a volleyball in his hand. Did he say his thoughts out-loud?

“D-dumbass. Don’t sneak on me like that.” The heat on his neck crept up to his cheeks. Kageyama was sure his face was red right now. “I don’t want to kiss anyone!”

“It’s normal thing to kiss your soulmate. You don’t have to be embarrassed. When you kiss your soulmate, you will feel like GWAH then your heart will also be like BAM!”

“I don’t understand your language and I don’t want to kiss Oikawa-san.”

“Oi King, stop talking about kissing your soulmate and start practicing.”

Tsukishima said loud enough from the middle of the court and everyone snickered when they heard that. Nishinoya and Tanaka just had to scream about Oikawa corrupting their junior, adding more embarrassment to Kageyama.

Taking a pity of red-faced Kageyama, Sawamura told everyone to start practicing.

“I am going to kill Tsukishima.”

“Do it after national, we need him.” Hinata said before running towards Sugawara to help him preparing the net.

When he was about to leave the phone with Yachi, it vibrated and a new notification popped out. He opened the message.

** Oikawa-san **

_Can we talk after your practice?_

_I’ll go there_

_Plz don’t run, I ate too much milk bread for lunch_

_I’ll vomit_

After contemplating for a while, Kageyama quickly typed his answer.

_Okay_

The practice went well, his quick with Hinata was almost perfect. They just needed to polish it a bit. Kageyama walked towards the front gate in a good mood, watching his orange-haired friend rode his bike out of school in a rush. Apparently today was his little sister’s birthday and he promised to be home before dinner. His walk to home would be quiet today.

“Tobio-chan!”

Kageyama halted on his step. This felt like dejavu. He completely forgot that he agreed to have a talk with Oikawa after school. The brown-haired boy waved at him before moving forward, heading towards him. As he got closer, Kageyama couldn’t help to panic and turned around to run.

He managed to run. Again.

But it wasn’t fast enough because seconds later, Oikawa managed to catch on him.

“Why do you keep running when you see me?” Oikawa said in annoyance.

“Sorry, it was a reflex.” Kageyama mumbled as the older pulled his collar, turning him around to face him.

Oikawa sighed and Kageyama didn’t expect that reaction. He thought that the man would whine or just scold him like usual. As he observed him, he realized that the older looked tired. The brown hair was a bit messy and the eyebags under his eyes were quite visible. A guilty feeling hit him because he accidentally forced Oikawa to run. This time it was because a reflex, he didn’t mean to run for real.

“Come here.” Oikawa put his arm around Kageyama’s shoulder, pulling him to quieter area where not many students passed by. “How are you?”

“Uh-fine.” The gentle voice of Oikawa made him feel weird in the stomach. Maybe because all the milk he drank after practice became milkshake due to his running session earlier.

“Good. Anywyay… uh.. do you-do you want to talk?”

This was the first time Kageyama saw how nervous and unsure Oikawa was. Usually, the older had over-the-top confidence in almost all situation. Never ever once he thought that Oikawa would be like this, showing his vulnerable side, to Kageyama. The one who he considered rival and someone he wanted to beat. But Kageyama also knew that things changed between them, while they were still rival, they were also soulmate and somehow that was a big deal for Oikawa. Iwaizumi’s words about giving him a chance rang louder in his head. He still didn’t understand a whole thing about soulmate, but he wanted to _try_ to understand for Oikawa.

“Oikawa-san, is soulmate that important to you?” He could feel his wrist tingling, the wrist where Oikawa’s name written.

“Of course!” The brown-haired boy almost shouted, clearing his throat when he saw Kageyama stepped back in shock. “I mean, of course. I grew up reading and watching love stories then the universe gives all of us chance to have a soulmate. Isn’t that amazing?”

If Kageyama’s heart thumped at how Oikawa’s eyes sparkled in excitement, he ignored that.

“So, Tobio-chan. I am so excited when I find out about my soulmate. I’ve been waiting for years to have my own story.”

“I still don’t understand about this whole soulmate thing. I also don’t know why you can easily accept me as your soulmate. Is it because you’re obsessed with having a soulmate? If I weren’t your soulmate, would you be nice to me like now? It feels like you want a soulmate, but you don’t want me.”

“That’s- that’s not it! Tobio-chan, listen to me.” Oikawa’s hands gripped Kageyama’s shoulders, lowering his head so they were in same eye-level. Kageyama ignored how this made his stomach churned, he couldn’t blame the milk this time. “I did some stupid things in middle school, well in high school too. One of them was being a bad senior to you. But believe me, I was planning to have a talk with you and doing this rivalry shit in healthy way after the Shiratorizawa match. That was when I still didn’t know that you were my soulmate. And then you got invited to that youth camp and I lost my chance. I don’t want to be the bad guy forever, you know. Not when I am probably leaving Miyagi after graduation. I want to sort things out with you but hey, you’re my soulmate now. It’s a bonus.”

It hit him with realization that this year was Oikawa's final year in high school. He would graduate soon, he would probably go to university and not staying in Miyagi.

“Are you leaving Miyagi?” Kageyama said softly, almost like a whisper.

“That’s what you caught from all of that?” The brown-haired boy looked at him in disbelief before broke into laughter. “I mean yeah, I am probably leaving. Got offer in Tokyo and Osaka… and uh.. that’s why I want to know if you want to try being a soulmate so we can.. like you know.. keep up with each other.”

Kageyama lowered his gaze, frowning at the idea of not having Oikawa around. Was this the soulmate effect? Did this finally hit him? He was confused. He was still not sure. This was complicated unlike volleyball when he just had to toss, serve and spike.

“Can you give me time to decide? I still want to understand better about being a soulmate. I just don’t want to sign for something that I am not good with. I am good with volleyball so I am confident, but soulmate is a whole new thing for me. Can I.. uh practice first?”

That answer brought laughter from Oikawa, he looked at the younger in amusement.

“Okay. Just don’t run away from me again.”

**

+1

Dropping his butt on the nearby bench, Oikawa sipped on his apple juice. Today was tiring but at least he got Kageyama to listen his confession. The younger had left earlier and refused Oikawa to walk him home. He said about sorting his mind first and asking Oikawa to give him a space. Trust Kageyama to be stubborn yet endearing at the same time.

Convincing Kageyama was indeed hard especially with his logic. It was frustrating but Oikawa couldn’t get mad at him. He understood that the black-haired boy was different at viewing things. That made Kageyama special. He was blunt but sincere with his words.

“Are you getting rejected again?”

Oikawa looked up and met with a pair of golden eyes. It was Karasuno’s middle blocker, the tall one who got blond hair and irritating personality. Out of all people, why it had to be him again that he met. What was his name again? Tsukishima?

“Hello Glasses-chan.” The disgusted expression on the blond-haired boy’s face gave him satisfaction. He flashed his usual wide smile. “Fortunately, I am not rejected today.”

“Good luck having that idiot as soulmate.”

Tsukishima was about to walk away but it seemed like he still wanted to say something, he ended up turning around to face Oikawa. The action made him raise an eyebrow in question.

“The king has tiny brain and mostly consisted of volleyball. He’s barely using it to function as normal human and it only works on the court when he’s playing as setter.”

Frowning in confusion, Oikawa didn’t know what to say. He wasn’t sure where this was going and he hoped that it wouldn’t turn into insult-kageyama-session.

“He can’t understand complicated words even reasonings because they will just fly over his head. He’s a simpleton, so his brain isn’t capable to process logical stuff because he has his own logic as I said. He struggles to understand when people don’t make it simple.”

“Did Kageyama hurt you or-“

“What I want to say is…” Tsukishima kept talking, interrupting whatever Oikawa wanted to say. “I am sick of watching soap opera in front of the gym and hearing his stupid words give me headache that I am afraid I will be infected with his dumbness. You should just simplify your reasoning to convince him, it’s not always to be deep. The king is a simpleton, you just have to follow his logic. That’s all. Bye.”

Oikawa blinked several times, watching as Tsukishima walked out of his sight. He tried to process all the advices that the middle blocker’s give after he managed to filter all the insult he spewed. To think about it again, it was indeed easier.

He just had to follow Kageyama’s logic.

**

“Tobio-chan, good morning!”

Oikawa shouted in excitement, waving at Kageyama who looked at him in confusion. He couldn’t sleep last night and decided that he would pay a visit to Kageyama’s house. The black-haired boy was about to leave for school and he arrived on time.

“Oikawa-san? What are you doing here? Don’t you have school?”

“The third year got two days break to search for university. But I want to walk you to the school!”

The owlish stare that Oikawa got only made him grin wider. Confused Kageyama was cute because his lips would turn poutier than usual.

“Okay.” Kageyama nodded in understanding but he still looked at him suspiciously. “Have you decided on any university?”

They started walking side by side, slow steps to match each other and Oikawa had to stop himself from grinning. This kind of scenario was what he always wanted, walking together with your soulmate.

“Yeah, probably going to take Tokyo offer. I still think of going pro though.” Oikawa glanced at Kageyama, giving him a cheeky grin. “I still want to beat you.”

“I accept the challenge.” The determined look on Kageyama’s face only made Oikawa want to squish his face. “And uh- I think going pro sounds good. You should just try.”

“Do you think I am good enough?”

“Of course. You’re my rival and that means you’re more than good.” Kageyama paused before said the following words quietly. “You’re better than me. For now.”

“Tobio-chan! So cute! Still admiring Oikawa-senpai until now.” Oikawa threw his arms around Kageyama’s shoulder to tease him. The smell of fruity shampoo filled his nostrils. He imagined how it felt like to inhale this smell daily when he just woke up on his bed. Save this for the future.

“Stop it. Get off me!”

Oikawa didn’t release him and Kageyama didn’t complain. He decided to try again with the soulmate talk. He didn’t want to leave Miyagi without a regret.

“Tobio-chan, you really don’t want to be my soulmate? I can teach you my serve.”

The sharp inhale that Kageyama took was a sign that target was locked. Oikawa bit back a laugh as he watched conflicted emotions passed through the younger’s face. Was it that simple? Was it THAT simple?

“Really?”

**_Bingo._ **

“Yeah! And also having me as soulmate is a good thing. You like volleyball, I also like it too! We can play volleyball together! When you think of me, you think of volleyball too, right?”

“Oh?”

“You said that you want to ‘practice’ with the soulmate thing. I am already good with it and I can teach you. So, you want to be soulmate with me or not?”

Kageyama looked into Oikawa’s eyes, like he was searching something. It was hard to stay calm when Oikawa’s heart was beating like crazy. The blue eyes were so pretty that he forgot what was his intention earlier. That was right, convincing Kageyama with his logic.

“Okay. But can we start the practice after spring interhigh?”

This time Oikawa couldn’t stop himself from laughing. _His Tobio-chan_ was indeed very simple-minded and it wasn’t even a bad thing. It was just endearing and _so_ him. It was a part of him that he would cherish.

“Deal.”

When Oikawa released Kageyama from his embrace, he casually held the younger’s hand, earning a confused frown from him. His cheeks felt hurt from all the smiling.

“We start from now? The practice?”

“Being soulmate is a long journey for both of us. We should start from now.”

The redness on Kageyama’s cheeks spread wider as he shyly locked fingers with Oikawa.

“Let’s go.”

Oikawa always wanted his love story, his happily ever after, his happy endings with his true love. This wasn’t a happy ending for him, not yet at least but it’s a happy beginning for his story.

**END**

**Author's Note:**

> comments and kudos are appreciated :)


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